Online processing of shortage designation applications suspended

Daily updates of Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) data have been suspended and are scheduled to resume on March 21, 2015. Please direct any questions to your
State Primary Care Office
and/or the appropriate Shortage Designation Project Officer.

Shortage Areas

HRSA develops shortage designation criteria to determine whether a geographic area, population group or facility is a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) or a Medically Underserved Area/Population (MUA/P). HPSAs may be designated as having a shortage of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers. They may be urban or rural areas, population groups, or medical or other public facilities. MUAs may be a whole county or a group of contiguous counties, a group of counties or civil divisions, or a group of urban census tracts in which residents have a shortage of health services. MUPs may include groups of persons who face economic, cultural or linguistic barriers to health care.

The HRSA Data Warehouse (HDW) allows users to interact with data in charts, tables/reports, maps, and tools. Visit the Data Sources page for more information about where shortage area data is available in the HDW.

Charts

Display high-level summary information about HRSA’s activities and can be used as a starting point for obtaining more detailed information.

The chart below shows the number of currently-designated HPSAs by discipline.
The criteria for designation varies from one discipline to another, and there is
no intrinsic relationship between them; an area may be considered to have a
shortage of practitioners in any or all of the disciplines independently.

As of January 1, 2015, there are a total of 2,830 HRSA designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) for Dental Care.

A HPSA is an area where the need is acute and may be designated as having a shortage of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers. They may be urban or rural areas, population groups, or medical or other public facilities.

As of January 1, 2015, there are a total of 4,071 HRSA designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) for Mental Health.

As of March 2, 2015, HRSA designated 4,188 Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA or MUP) where residents have a shortage of health services or include groups of persons with economic, cultural, or linguistic barriers to health care.

As of January 1, 2015, there are a total of 2,142 HRSA designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) for Dental Health.